The Quest for a Birthday Present

I have been sleeping in so late lately, but then yesterday I woke up at nine, and I was like whatever, it's just a fluke. Then today I woke up at about the same time. This is particularly strange, because I stayed up until about 2:30 last night, and I was more active than lying in my bed all day. Weird.

In other news, since I know that Ashley doesn't read this, the focused part of my being (so about a third of my day) has been working towards Ashley's birthday present. My original plan for her was to get her the movie 16 candles and get her 16 candles. I have smartly decided this to not be a good idea (particularly since any new editions of the movie apparently have altered the original soundtrack to such a point that Happy BIRTHDAY is not in there). So then I decided I could try and get a signed book by one of her favorite authors. I asked her for a list of her ten favorites, and then I was going to go on the prowl online and on used bookstores to find one.

PROBLEMS:
~If I could get my hands on a signed book by JK Rowling, there is no way I would give it to Ashley, because I am not that selfless >_<
~JD Salinger is recently dead (R.I.P.), and a signed book goes well into the realm of could not afford even if I found one.
~Ellen Hopkins is currently doing an offer to get a signed book if you buy the new hardback of her first book Crank, and mail the dust cover, she will sign. Great right? Not really, because I couldn't find the hardback at any local bookstore, and getting one from amazon and then mailing it to her, getting it back, and mailing it to ashley would take too long.
~I have Sarah Dessen book signed that I would happily give to ashley... if it was currently in my possession, but we still don't have our stuff due to moving.
~Laurie Halse Anderson, Sonya Sones, Gabrielle Zevin, Suzanne Collins, John Green and Markus Zusak all are not touring soon enough, and I can't find anywhere to get a signed book from.

I have tried one other thing, that I will not say, because it still has a chance, and it would feel like jinxing it if I said anything. But this one is a longshot, so now I am finding myself in need to come up with something else, preferably involving these authors somehow, because she is already suspicious that me asking for the list has to do with her birthday. And I had one idea, that I think is mostly scrapped, because I couldn't find what I was looking for in the used bookstore I was at, and there was no other way to do it.

I need this present to be perfect for ashley, and to explain why thoroughly would take a million worlds. To make it simple: It's Ashley's 16th birthday, I love her, and I can't be there for her as much as I wish I could be. She's my best friend, and she deserves something amazing that I keep finding just out of reach.

Birthdays should not be this stressful, but it's going to be worth it, I'm sure.
-Jess the Nerdfighting BandGeek